Opinion: Is it ‘We the People’ or ‘We the Haters’? Blame for Butler Is on All of Us

So at last the moment we have long feared has come to pass. Political violence in its most heinous kind has defiled the 2024 presidential election campaign. The question we must face as individuals, as communities and as a nation is now: “Where do we go from here?”

We could fall into the rabbit holes of conspiracy theories, as some began doing online within moments of the shooting in Butler, searching for deep, sinister forces to try and force order on what is basically the random chaos generated by a disturbed mind.

We could go down the paths of anger, fear and revenge, targeting retribution at those “on the other side” who we blame for this tragedy, thereby furthering our political division and make the possibility of even more organized and destructive violence a real possibility.

We could continue our politics of blame, laying responsibility for all the bad things we claim are happening in American society on someone else, some “others,” some “Them,” thereby perpetuating the vitriol and animosity that helped prime a delusional 20-year-old nursing home dietary aide to try to achieve fame through the barrel of a gun.

Or we could try to stop this national madness, recognizing as the first step the need for us all to accept that the fault for all this does not lie in our stars — or our political adversaries, some group of elite, a shadow government, immigrants, militias or misanthropic media hate-mongers and their ilk.

The blame lies in ourselves. All of us are responsible for the fate of “We the People.”

We must understand we have all contributed to our national polemical political polarization. We’ve done it every time we’ve made a post to social media or posted a yard sign demonizing the “other side” as a somehow evil, somehow less American, somehow less “real” people than ours and ourselves.

We’ve done it every time we patronize division-spewing media, rewarding craven efforts to monetize hate and divisiveness. We’ve done it every time we’ve shared a mean, dehumanizing joke about “Them” with our peers or laughed at the same, even if we did so just to “fit in” with our group at the expense of “Them” and their group.

We’ve done it every time we feel that inward sanctimonious smugness at having reaffirmed our own worth by demeaning and demonizing others.

We’ve done it every time we’ve done nothing to clearly and loudly state that this divisiveness and demonization is simply and utterly unacceptable, to call out those who do it — even if they are our friends — and say, “we are all Americans. We are better than this.”

We’ve done it every time we’ve acted like we are the only “We” in “We the people.”

So here we sit, dancing with the devil at a crossroads in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Down one path lies more national acrimony, division, possible violence and national ruin. One can just see the true enemies of the American People — the dynamic duo of authoritarian haters of freedom Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin — smiling with delight like Satan in Don McLean’s “American Pie.”

Down the other path is the possibility of increased unity, the opportunity for us all to pull back, to say “No.”

Despite our real political differences (which any number of polls tell us are not anywhere near as great, at least when it comes to real laws and policy choices, as our current polarization would have us think) we have to, individually and collectively, reaffirm our basic commitment under our Constitution to every single member of “We the people.”

We must, in our hearts and in our speech, reaffirm our commitment to our basic social contract: that we agree we all have natural rights (amongst these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness); that we agree to respect each other’s rights; and, should we disagree, that we agree to go to a government freely elected by all of us to adjudicate our disputes. We will settle our differences now and always by ballots, not bullets.

Even as I write, there are reports that former President Trump may be reflecting on the tragic events of this weekend to refocus his message at the Republican Convention to one of toning down divisive rhetoric and building national unity.

President Biden, meanwhile, has pulled all attack ads from media, focusing, for this week at least, on national unity in the face of national tragedy. If both parties — and their supporters — can use this moment to reaffirm their faith in our social contract, our Constitution and the sum total of all of us, the American People, then perhaps we, as a nation, can pull back from the political abyss we now peer into.

As we move forward as a country from Butler County, let us also remember that the greatest true American hero in all of this is the late Corey Comperatore. Mr. Comperatore spent his career in public service risking his life as a firefighter. He gave his life to protect his family, repelling an attack based on hate with the utter expression of love.

We as Americans have to remember that “We the People” basically means what residents of our 50th State call “Ohana.”

Ohana simply means family and family simply means love, with no one left behind or forgotten. Real American leaders are those who remind us of this simple truth and seek to lead us to unity.

Let us hope the ultimate consequence of Butler County is to rekindle that ideal in the hearts of all Americans and our leaders.

Carl Luna, a visiting professor of political science at the University of San Diego, is director of USD’s Institute for Civil Civic Engagement.